Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday2015-12-052017-08-22https://www.merchantloanadvance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/merchant-loan-advance-logo.pngMerchant Cash Advancehttps://www.merchantloanadvance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Small-Business-Saturday.jpg200px200px

As Small Business Saturday draws to a close in 2015 we are expecting the figures to be up once again from last year. Small business Saturday is in its third year and looks to encourage shoppers to spend their cash locally in smaller retail outlets. It’s fairly easy around Christmas for consumers to visit a single superstore and pretty much buy up everything they need however there has been a real marketing drive to push the same consumers onto their local high street and support small business.

Saturday is a busy day regardless especially in the run up to Christmas but we asked some small businesses local to our offices here in Cheshire what they thought about the concept.

Jillian Gunn a small business owner commented “It’s difficult to really know if the incentive is having the effect compared to any other day. I was told that the local car parks we’re full and there was considerably more people on the high street which may just be seasonal but on the other hand could be the effort from the campaign. Small businesses are suffering from Council parking charges, town conjestion and ease of access, we also suffer from more people shopping online through the likes of Amazon etc.”

“We have taken our boutique online directly and are pushing our brand through local social media such as Facebook groups etc. Whilst it’s easy to be swept along with Small Business Saturday we know we have to compete online. I think the government should offer more help to small businesses to market themselves online.”

Business Secretary Sajid Javid also commented “Small Business Saturday is an opportunity to come together and generate a real boost for small firms in the run-up to Christmas.

“Having grown up above the family shop myself, I’m proud of the UK’s small businesses, providing jobs and security for millions of people and making a huge contribution to our economy.”

In 2014 UK businesses took £504 million on the same day from an estimated 16.5 million people – a 20% increase on 2013. It’s going to be interesting to see how shoppers have reacted this year.